


Hacking Rush

by Allerleirauh



Series: A Long Road [6]
Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Banter, Community: smallfandomfest, Computer Viruses, Hacking, M/M, sexual innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 00:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1760965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allerleirauh/pseuds/Allerleirauh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eli and Nick are playing tag within <i>Destiny’s</i> computer systems, Everett decides to rig the game, and then things get really out of hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hacking Rush

**Author's Note:**

  * For [colls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/colls/gifts).



> written for smallfandomfest round 15  
> prompt: in my previous life as a hacker

“Let’s see if I get this straight. You’re telling me you’re using the _Destiny_ ’s computers to play a game of tag with Nick,” Colonel Young said, sounding utterly incredulous but infinitely patient.

The patience, though, was an illusion. Eli was well aware of Young’s very special brand of deliberate patience he always used, when he hadn’t yet decided if giving into his urge to yell was a good idea. Eli blinked slowly. He wasn’t sure how to explain. Rush had told him it was all right, and Eli had assumed that Rush had told Young, too.

“Okay, Colonel. It’s like this. Nick and I—“ he began.

“Doctor Rush,” Young cut in.

Eli blinked again, momentarily confused.

“Just because I call him Nick, doesn’t mean I will tolerate that you do. Unless he has given you permission?” Young’s question hung in the air between them.

Eli blinked for a third time. _It must be a mirror universe_ , he thought. It was the only way to explain that strange parallel dimension Young seemed to be living in. _We’re millions of light-years away from home, but he’s bothered I’m not showing enough respect to his boyfriend._ Eli shook his head at the idea. Then he shook it more vehemently for using the term boyfriend in this context.

Young looked at him curiously.

“Yes, _Colonel_ ,” Eli answered. “You see, _Colonel_. It isn’t just a game. _Doctor_ Rush and I are trying to find better ways of protecting our computers against attacks. _Doctor_ Rush has developed a really clever cascade of protective programs of increasing complexity that are designed to stop any potential intruders. He’s implemented it in some of our less important systems.”

“I see,” Young answered, completely ignoring Eli’s exaggerated emphasize on rank and title when speaking about Rush or Young. “I think I can guess what your part in this game of yours is.”

Eli grinned. “I’m trying to bust his defenses,” he said.

“Who’s winning?” Young asked.

Me, of course, Eli wanted to say. Instead he leaned back casually, flinging one arm over the backrest of his chair, trying to look like the pro he was. “What do you think?” he asked back, giving Young a haughty look. He was startled when Young pulled up another chair and sat down beside him.

After briefly fiddling with the frequencies of his radio, the colonel raised it to his mouth. “Nick?”

“What?” Rush’s voice came over the radio.

“What are you doing at the moment?” Young asked.

“None of your business,” Rush replied.

Eli fought hard to suppress his involuntary smirk, studiously avoiding the colonel’s gaze.

“Nick,” Young said again.

“I’m on the bridge doing…” Rush paused for a moment. “…doing complex calculations you wouldn’t understand, but that are nonetheless important,” he finally answered.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Young replied, before quickly cutting the transmission, not giving Rush the opportunity for another disgruntled comment. Young looked at Eli, his expression unreadable. Then he put on his glasses, and giving Eli a tight smile, he said, “Okay, Hotshot. Blow him out of the water.”

Eli grinned. For a moment he’d thought he’d gotten himself into real trouble with Young, but now it seemed as if they were actually going to have fun, Eli’s kind of fun to be precise. The only thing bothering him, was how to hide which of _Destiny_ ’s computer systems he and Rush had chosen as their current battlefield.

He reactivated the screens he’d originally shut down when Young had come into the control room. Rapidly Eli’s fingers danced over his keyboard, bringing up schematics and a series of interfaces. If he was quick enough, he was sure that Young wouldn’t be able to follow. Besides, he wasn’t above showing off a bit. It was never wrong to remind the colonel that Eli was _Destiny_ ’s resident genius, or one of two at least.

“See” he said after a moment. “This is one of the waste reclamation systems we don’t use any more. The way Rush’s cascade works, it protects the entire sub-system. At the moment the cascade has five layers, and as I said they get increasingly more difficult to hack.” Eli looked up from the screen. Then he cleared his throat. “Colonel, you don’t expect me to explain what I’m going to do in detail, are you?” he asked tentatively.

Young gave him an amused look over the rim of his glasses. “Why Eli? Is it because you’re going to do complex computer calculations I won’t understand?” he asked, mirroring Rush’s earlier words.

Inwardly Eli cringed, but aloud he asked, “How long would it take you to talk me through, say, advanced military strategy?” He thought it was quite a witty answer.

Young, though, didn’t look particularly impressed. “Just get on with it, Eli,” he replied.

An hour passed and Eli made short work of the first three layers of Rush’s cascade. This, however, wasn’t anything special. The first three layers had never posed any serious problems for him. Even after Rush had updated those layers Eli had still managed to get through them with relative ease. It was the last two layers, but especially the last that always drove him nuts. It didn’t help that Rush was actively fighting him now, obviously using one of the bridge’s computer interfaces to stop Eli’s progress.

As if he had sensed Eli’s difficulties, Young asked, “Need any help?”

Eli wondered how he could say ‘no’ without appearing too impolite.

Young smiled, and closing his eyes, he shook his head. Activating his radio again, he said, “Nick, you still there?”

Rush replied instantly. “No, Colonel. I’ve locked myself in an airlock; then blown the outer door. I’m currently drifting in space, slowly suffocating.”

Young chuckled. “You have such a sweet way with words sometimes.”

This time there was a marked pause before Rush answered. “Everett, what do you want?”

“How about a game of chess later?” Young asked.

“No. Rush out.”

Young stared at his radio, his eyes narrowing.

“Well, Colonel, it was a good idea,” Eli said, throwing him a quick sideway glance before focusing on his screen again. By now Rush seemed intent on throwing everything at him he had, and Eli didn’t dare to let up on pushing back.

“How’s it going?” Young asked.

“Badly,” Eli replied, sounding grimmer than he had intended.

The colonel took a deep breath. “Young to Rush,” he said.

“You’re really pushing it today,” Rush’s voice answered after a moment. Then he sighed. “What’s the matter with you?”

“How about a game of poker?” Young asked.

“Have you taken anything, Everett? Maybe you should let TJ check you out,” Rush answered.

Eli worked feverishly. Though he really would’ve preferred doing this without listening to the weird conversation between Young and Rush, he could see that Rush found it at least as distracting as Eli.

“You ever played strip poker?” Young asked.

Eli flinched. Then he completely forgot about the colonel as he saw an opening in Rush’s cascade. A couple of deftly typed commands, and the fourth layer had fallen. He gave Young a triumphant grin and a thumbs up.

The radio spat an astonished silence at them. Rush sounded wary, but curious when he asked, “What are the rules?”

Now it was Young who grinned.

Eli began attacking the last layer with fresh determination. He wasn’t sure how far Young was willing to go with this, but even though the idea of listening to Young’s and Rush’s communication was making Eli increasingly nervous, if it offered him the chance to win the game he would take it.

“I would think that the name strip poker is rather obvious,” Young answered Rush’s last question. “One lost match, one piece of clothes.” He paused. “You’re not going to haggle with me about what constitutes a piece of clothes, are you, Nick?” he asked mockingly.

Young’s radio offered them an indignant snort in response.

“It’s just that only losers haggle about something like that,” Young added, obviously intent of adding oil to the flames.

Eli snickered under his breath. To his astonishment he was making good progress on the fifth layer. Sure, Rush’s cascade had some extremely clever features, the most prominent and annoying among them was that it was adaptive, reacting to the attacker’s tactic by modifying its own defensive strategy.

Nonetheless, Eli was sure he would have no problem defeating the cascade. The deciding factor so far, had always been Rush who had, at one point or another, interfered and thrown Eli out of the protected system. Today, though, Rush was clearly not concentrating enough.

“You still there, Nick?” Young asked.

“I’m trying to figure out, what you’re up to,” Rush answered.

“At present nothing much is up,” Young quipped. “But I’m counting on the evening.”

Eli felt heat race through him. _God, this is so embarrassing._ He forcibly called his mind to order. He could do this. Rush hadn’t completely given up on his meddling, but his heart was obviously no longer in it. Eli tried typing faster.

“What’s in it for the winner?” Rush asked speculatively.

Young chuckled again. “Oh, I don’t know. What’s your pleasure, Nick?” he asked.

Eli had to swallow hard. _Geez, I’m getting far too much information here._ He couldn’t escape, though. His only option was cracking the last layer. Almost, he thought, leaning forward.

It happened without forewarning. The last layer fell, and from one moment to the next the lights in the room, his computer terminal, and everything else went dead.

“Yes!” Eli exclaimed, unperturbed by the complete darkness.

Young’s radio answered with alarmed and indignant sputtering.

“Nick, what just happened?” Young asked sharply.

“Was that Eli’s voice?” Rush snapped back.

A few seconds later the power came back on.

Unfortunately it was Young’s glowering face that greeted Eli once he could see again. The colonel was giving him a very grim look.

“You told me you’re using a waste reclamation system,” Young said in a deceptively calm voice.

Briefly Eli considered just running away. _With luck Young won’t come after me and instead focus on Rush. Then again, maybe he won’t_. Before Eli could do or say anything, however, Rush’s voice answered in his stead.

“Why would we use the waste reclamation system?” he asked incredulously. “It’s completely unsuitable for our purposes, and, of course, I wanted to give Eli a real incentive.”

Eli watched as Young closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. When he spoke again, he sounded clearly incensed. “Nick! You and your… your apprentice here, you’re playing hide and seek in one of _Destiny_ ’s power distribution systems?” he asked.

“No,” Rush answered curtly.

“What do you mean? No?”

“We’re using the _main_ power system, and the fact that you compare our efforts of optimizing _Destiny_ ’s computer-defenses to a child’s game shows how little you understand about what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Rush answered.

Eli tried making himself as small as possible. He really wished he were somewhere else.

“And of course, nothing would’ve happened, hadn’t you interfered,” Rush continued. “So far, Eli hasn’t managed to crack my defenses even once, but you had to meddle with your…” He fell silent, apparently searching for a suitable word. “…with your sexual antics,” he finished at last.

Eli watched Young taking a deep breath, before he replied. “We’ll talk about this later,” he said and turned his radio off. He looked at Eli. “There are a few things I’d like to make clear,” he began. “First, congratulations. Even though I have no idea what exactly you did there, it was a good show, and you did exactly what I asked you to do.”

Eli grinned, reveling in the colonel’s praise, even if he was perfectly aware that there was a ‘but’ coming.

The colonel didn’t disappoint. “But,” he continued, “using _Destiny_ ’s main power system? I can’t imagine you didn’t realize how problematic a choice that was, and don’t even try telling me you thought it was all right because Nick told you so. You’re smarter than that, and frankly, I would’ve expected you to act more responsibly.”

Eli knew Young was right, mostly right at least. This was uncomfortable territory. Eli was painfully aware that he had nothing viable to say in his defense. He’d allowed himself to get carried away with this whole hacking business. It had been such a sweet reminder of days past. Instead of saying something inane, he settled on an earnest look and gave Young a resolute nod. To his immense relief Young seemed satisfied with both.

The colonel rose to his feet and gave Eli a pat on the shoulder. Briefly, he glanced at the computer screen before he turned and walked toward the room’s door.

Eli sagged in his chair and closed his eyes. _What a rollercoaster_ , he thought, feeling slightly dazed. Then he heard Young’s footsteps coming back again.

Eli’s eyes snapped open, and there Young was, already sitting opposite from Eli again. This time Young placed both of his hands on Eli’s shoulders and kept them there. They felt surprisingly heavy, and instinctively Eli straightened up again.

“There’s one other thing,” Young said with a smile. He leaned slightly forward. “Should anything of what happened in the last two hours find its way out of this room - word of gossip, audio recordings, kino footage - I’m going to hang, draw and quarter you, and when I’m done, I’ll hand you over to Doctor Rush.” Still smiling, Young gave Eli a friendly pat on the cheek, rose to his feet and left again.

Eli waited until he was absolutely certain that Young wouldn’t return for another speech. This time he didn’t sag, but slumped forward. Reaching under his computer terminal, he blindly fished around until his fingers closed around the kino control. Of course, he wouldn’t use the footage. He doubted that he would even look at it – at least not until a lot of time had passed.

There were things he really didn’t want to know, and images would only make it worse. Quickly he downloaded the kino footage into his private, protected storage. He wondered what to do next. Then he remembered something he’d almost forgotten over Young’s last warning. _High time to find Rush and do some serious bragging._

He was already humming when he reached the door.


End file.
